by Peter Branson

‘It wasn’t easy for her to make the change, but she didn’t
let it show – she became a lady.’ (Nancy Cliff, niece)

Was it gene bred, the Wedgwood brand, date-stamp
six generation back, or did you snag
the boss’s eye, all things evolved from that,
your taste buds fed on deco trysts abroad,
those jazzy sunshine glazes, L’Art Moderne,
triangles, flowers, swirls? You rode world-wide
through the Depression, never Woolies, much
too dear for folk where cash was scarce as shoes
for nippers’ feet, back in the bottled smoke.
His wife proscribed all mention of your name
until she died. Bazooka girls knew, hugged
their whispers to themselves. You married late,
moved out to Chetwynd House, posh arts ‘n’ crafts,
played Jekyll to his Lutyens-like estate.

Peter
Branson lives in Rode Heath, a village in South Cheshire. A former
English teacher and lecturer, he now organises writing workshops.
Until recently he was “Writer-in-residence” for the “All Write”
project run by Stoke-on-Trent Central Libraries.
Over
the last five years he has had work published, or accepted for
publication, by many mainstream poetry journals in Britain, USA,
Canada, EIRE, Australia and New Zealand, including Acumen, Ambit,
Envoi, Magma, The London Magazine, Iota, 14, Fire, The Frogmore
Papers, The Interpreter’s House, Poetry Nottingham, Pulsar, Red
Ink, The Recusant, South, Writing Magazine, The New Writer, Crannog,
The Raintown Review, The Able Muse and Other Poetry.
His
first collection, “The Accidental Tourist”, was published in May
2008. A second collection was published at the beginning of this year
by Caparison Press for ‘The Recusant’. More recently a pamphlet
has been issued (May 7th)
by ‘Silkworms Ink’. A third collection has been accepted for
publication by Salmon Press, EIRE.